Sheriff requests 12-hour option

MARENGO — Iowa County Supervisors discussed changing a handbook to allow for a 12-hour shift for dispatchers and jailers.

Iowa County Sheriff Rob Rotter requested the change after an employee requested a 12-hour shift. Supervisors said they weren’t inclined to give a waiver so an employee can work an odd shift, but Rotter said that’s not what he’s asking.

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Rotter doesn’t want an exception for 12-hour shifts, he said. He wants the option as part of county policy.

The old teamster contract had 8-, 10- and 12-hour options, Rotter said, but when it was rewritten, the 12-hour option was left out because it wasn’t in use.

The 12-hour option has been put back in to the deputy contract, said Rotter. “And it’s been very popular.” The union deputies work 12-hour shifts with one 8-hour shift every week, said Rotter.

Rotter would like the 12-hour option added to the handbook for jailers and dispatchers. “There may be a day when it just makes sense to go that way,” said Rotter.

A 12-hour schedule is good if you have enough people, which the county doesn’t have right now, said Rotter.

It would still be up to the sheriff if an employee works a 12-hour shift, said Rotter. Employees can’t choose their own shifts.

Right now Rotter has no plan to go to 12-hour shifts because he doesn’t have the manpower, he said. But he has a trained dispatcher who requested 12-hour shifts.

If she’s gone completely, Rotter would have to schedule more overtime. “This would plug holes for us,” said Rotter. He’d like to accommodate her, he said.

Supervisors will have an amended policy drafted for approval.